


When He Thinks No One is Looking

by ltcommkat



Series: Observations [2]
Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (2016)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-22
Updated: 2016-08-22
Packaged: 2018-08-10 07:32:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7835776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ltcommkat/pseuds/ltcommkat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Raph thinks no one is around.</p>
            </blockquote>





	When He Thinks No One is Looking

It surprised her to learn, over time, that there is a lot more to Raphael than being a meat head with anger issues. He is a true example of an onion, with many layers, each one softer the further down you peel. She is used to his tough-guy exterior and his harsh words, and knows it's all a front. Very early on she learned not to take any of it to heart, that she'd need to dig, very subtly, if she wanted to see the real Raph.

She knew a lot more about the red-bandana wearing turtle than he was aware of, due to all the time she'd spent with his brothers and him. Being around ninjas as much as she is, you pick up a few tricks on being sneaky. It is one of her favorite games to play, seeing how long she can remain unnoticed by them. Donnie and Mikey are easy, usually pretty thoroughly distracted by whatever they're doing. Raph is less difficult to spy on than Leo, but she isn't successful very often. But when she does catch him when he thinks he's alone, her heart beats hard in her chest, affection swelling high enough so she can't make a noise even if she wants to.

She caught him once watching TV, which isn't abnormal for him during down time, but when he knows he isn't alone he'll be watching sports, the news, anything inherently masculine. This particular time, he had the smaller 24" screen television with the bunny ears hidden away up in his corner of the lair, the volume turned way down. He was hunched close to the screen, elbows resting on his knees. The show was some MTV reality series. He was mumbling to himself as he watched, talking to characters he didn't like, laughing when they'd say something stupid. She cleared her throat, and he practically jumped out of his skin, scrambling for the remote to change the channel.

"Uhh, just flipping channels," he'd said lamely. She worked hard to swallow down any snarky comment. She sat with him, grabbing the remote out of his hands.

"I wanna watch that," she told him, smiling knowingly. He'd let her change it back, pretending not to care, but she could see it in his eyes that he loved the show.

After that, whenever she caught him watching TV alone, it was some reality show; the Bachelor, Ink Master, random MTV junk. She'd join him silently, knowing if she asked him about it he's just deny that he was even paying attention. He kept his comments about the shows to himself in front of her, but his lips would still move unconsciously, and grunt or snort when people he didn't like lasted another week.

They never spoke to each other about their TV time, and she was sure the other three didn't know about Raph's guilty pleasure. She liked it this way. It was something that bound them together, and she couldn't help feeling special, and wondered if Raph put as much weight on it as she did.


End file.
